1. Technical Field
This device relates to elevator doors in general, and to elevator door support systems in particular.
2. Background Art
Elevators have doors that have-been configured in basically the same ways for many years: each elevator car has one or more center or side opening doors to protect passengers as the car moves; and each landing has one or more hoistway doors that are configured similarly to the car doors to prevent passengers from entering the hoistway when the car is not at the landing. Some landings utilize a single hoistway door that pivots open and shut like a house door.
Hoistway and car doors are supported similarly. The doors are suspended from their upper edges by rollers that travel longitudinally in a track attached to a lintel. The doors are guided at their bottom edges by gibs that slide in a slot in a sill.
For safety reasons, hoistway doors are required to close automatically. A spring device may be used to close the doors or a weight is attached to the doors by a cable that travels over a series of pulleys. The weight forces the doors to close unless there is a countervailing force.
The hoistway and car doors are opened and closed by a door operating unit. The unit is disposed atop an elevator car and is attached to each car door via a complicated mechanical linkage. Each car door, in turn, is coupled, at the proper time, by a pair of rollers that clamp a vane attached to the hoistway doors.